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Friday, May 6, 2011

Farm Friday

So the weaning process is still ongoing. And Mama and son are both doing well. Some crying and pacing, to be sure, but they're dealing.

But doing things this way does mean more work.

I have to pitch hay out to Genevieve since she no longer has access to the barn.

I (meaning my kids) have to haul buckets of water out to refill her water tub, because the hose won't reach that far.

And I have to milk her every now and then.

**cricket cricket **

I said I have to milk her every now and then.

See, her udder is still producing milk, it just has nowhere to go. So after a day of no 800lb baby slurpin' down his breakfast, lunch and dinner, the milk just builds up till her bag is tight and uncomfortable.

So I milk her just a bit to take the pressure off. Just enough to make her more comfortable. Plus this will fool her body into thinking that's all the milk she needs to make, so it will start to produce less on the next go round.

But B the Younger was helping me feed her a couple mornings ago when he saw me reach up under her belly and start yanking on her teats.

Uhhh, Mom....?

Yes dear?

What are you doing?

I'm milking Genevieve.

Why?

(See above)

He just watched with a mixture of horror and fascination for a minute, then shook his head and walked back to the house.

I think I need to add this to the chore list!!! I can just see their faces now when they discover that their weekly chores might include emptying the dishwasher, mowing the lawn, and milking the horse.

Oh, this is brilliant. I gotta go. I need to find my dry erase markers and start making some changes on the chore board.

Click the brown button if you think "milking the horse" should be a chore for my kids.Click the brown button if you think I should consider the long-range therepeutic needs of my children instead.Or just click the brown button to vote for me.

Yes - your three kids from Kazakhstan should naturally know how to do this since horse milk is part of their heratiage. That's what the judge meant when they asked you in court if you would keep your child aware of his culture. That's it! You can tell the kids the judge requires them to do it!

I can't seem to find a contact button - I'd love to email you about a nonprofit my husband along with a board of directors just launched to give grants to adoptive families (The Sparrow Fund - www.sparrow-fund.org). Email me if you are interested - we'd love to have you post something about it on your blog.Kellymkraudy@verizon.net

Like Mr. Rogers used to say (paraphrased), Won't - you be - my Followers?

A Little History

Quite frankly, I don't know what I was thinking at the time. We went from 3 kids by birth to "oh, let's adopt a 4th" without a whole lot of deliberation.

While adopting said 4th (in Kazakhstan), we met a young man of 8 yrs by the name of Borya. Thought he was a pretty nice kid and years later found out we could adopt him too. Only thing was, he came as a 2-in-1 package with his younger sister Ylia. What the hay, said we, and rushed headlong into the adoption process. Again. To adopt two kids that were 10 and 13 at the time.

Started a blog to keep track of where my head was in this adoption game. When Borya and Ylia arrived home, we were suddenly the proud parents of six kids, ages 9, 10, 11, 11, 13 and 13.

That was back in 2009, but I still blog. I figure what doesn't make us laugh makes us cry, and I'd rather be laughing.

Also? We live on a farm(ish) with a few dozen critters. You're just as likely to read a post about the farming side of things as you are the parenting side. Thought you might want to know in case you have allergies or something.

As for the structure of this blog, I pretty much post on a daily basis, and I tend to be all over the place in what I write about, so if it's nice, neat and compartmentalized you're looking for, be off with you now, you won't find it here.

I do have some structure, though, I'm not a total bohemian. I roll like this:
Mon: Mirth Monday. A little somethin' to make you chuckle.
Tues: Sometimes Adoption Tuesday, sometimes A Tip For Tuesday, sometimes random thoughts.
Weds: Wordless Wednesday. Usually a photo or some artwork from myself or one of my oh-so-talented children.
Thurs: all random, all the time.
Fri: Farm Friday. Speaks for itself.
Sat, Sun: More random musings.

Feel free to explore and don't be shy -- drop me a line to say hello, and be sure to add yourself as a follower. Feeds my ego in a big way. I'm very insecure.